Think Honda

I am honored to be invited by Guangzhou Honda to visit Japan and visit Honda. To be honest, I didn't have much expectations in my mind after seeing the itinerary before going there. This is not the first time I have been to Japan, and HONDA is familiar with them. This type of interview is nothing more than visiting the factory production line, research facilities, and listening to reports. But what I didn't expect was that during this trip and after returning, I was immersed in the Japanese complex. Driven by my deep curiosity, I downloaded the "Chrysanthemum and the Knife", an American study of Japanese culture, from the Internet and read it again. Look at the Japanese movies "Swan Sing", "Pursuit", "Wangxiang", etc., and browse a lot of information about Honda. All this stems from hearing Mr. Fukui, the current president of Honda R&D, give a speech at this Tokyo Motor Show, when he talked about the hybrid CIVIC: "Since the first generation, CIVIC has continuously provided unique values. ". This statement is obviously a very high level of car building, which is awe-inspiring.

In today's world's auto industry, one in every 80 cars is "Honda". Everyone is used to turning a blind eye to the HONDA logo. In the eyes of me and most Chinese people, Honda has always been a very "material". "Yes, isn't it?

A starting point built on love

In 1915, there were only 1,300 cars in all of Japan, and only 700 people in Tokyo had driver's licenses. One day, a rich man went hunting in Guangming Village, Shizuoka County, and drove a small car. The arrival of such a rare thing naturally caused a sensation. Wherever the car went, adults stopped working and looked up, and children followed. Running around the streets behind the car, one of the 9-year-old boys was even more excited beyond words. When the car stopped and the oil was leaking all over the floor, he smeared black oil on his body with both hands, delusionally thinking that he was just putting oil on the floor. The man who made this car.

The boy eventually achieved a lifetime of brilliant achievements, and his statue was placed side by side with Henry Ford's "Auto Hall" in the United States for outstanding contributions to the automotive industry; The Holly Prize for outstanding contributions in the field of mechanical engineering has been awarded twice so far, the first time (1936) was awarded to American Henry Ford.

This boy is Soichiro Honda, the creator of the "Honda Myth".

It is not enough to hear the story of Mr. Soichiro as an inspirational story.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, HONDA developed from a workshop into a world-class corporate brand, which is a miracle both in Japan and in the history of the world's automobiles. Tracing the origin, it is not so much attributable to the continuous improvement and transcendence of Honda's products, technology, operation and management as to the inexhaustible legacy of its founder, Mr. Soichiro Honda. The wealth that can make it live forever - the unique Honda spirit.

Because in Japan, a country that advocates spirituality, Mr. Soichiro Honda and Mr. Konosuke Matsushita can become national heroes as "small country entrepreneurs" (with only the education level of elementary school graduation), relying only on electrical appliances and automobiles. "Material" can't do that.

China in the 21st century has also attracted the attention of the world because of its economic take-off. Many Chinese auto companies, which have revitalized the national auto industry and built national auto brands, have gone through several years of ups and downs and are still wandering in confusion.

At this moment, I believe that a careful study of Mr. Soichiro Honda and the Honda Giken he created should subvert some inherent concepts and gain useful enlightenment.

The dreamer who wins by technology

The legendary history of Mr. Soichiro Honda is ignored here, but let’s hear what his biggest rival in the market gave him in the early days of his business: "Mr. Honda has neither education nor wealth. Relying on the creative work of skilled craftsmen, ignoring the abacus, and only knowing how to improve products, he has built a generation of careers that are not comparable to those of our generation with a high degree of education."

In 1952, 46-year-old Soichiro Honda received Japan's "Blue Ribbon Medal" with 150 patented products. When he attended the reception at the palace, the prince asked him, "Is it a very hard thing to invent?" He stood up and replied : "Love at first sight is only worth a thousand miles away."

Here, it should be emphasized that Soichiro Honda's invention is based on an original premise. The research results are proprietary. produce identical products. Although it seems that it is not easy to imitate, but imitation is the first pleasure and then the pain. Because once you taste this taste, you will be addicted to it. As long as the imitation is successful once, you will not want to create it yourself. In this way, I don't want to create and imitate myself, and always walk behind others. Is there anything more painful in the world than this? (This seems to be a mirror for some Chinese auto companies)

The above idea has evolved to this day, and it is the research and development philosophy followed by Honda technicians--

It is precisely because it is an unexplored field that it is explored Values

Honda has an ethos of "not afraid to fail, but to work on ideas in unexplored areas".

Set higher barriers for yourself. Only by solving difficult problems and overcoming barriers can you provide motivation for success.

It can be understood from this that the full name of Honda is not Honda Motor Industry Co., Ltd. but "Honda Technology Research Industry Co., Ltd.". Research has always been a driving force for Honda.

But Soichiro Honda is by no means a simple-minded and well-developed mechanical madman. It was also in 1952 that he published an article titled "Standing in the World's Vision" in the "Honda Monthly":

< i> In just 5 years since our establishment, our company has truly become a top-ranking company in Japan. However, from the perspective of the world, it is very embarrassing, because our efforts are still not the first in the world, which should be ashamed.

I realize very clearly that our technology is still a long way behind the advanced countries in Europe and America. I know that as long as I work hard, the gap will be narrowed. Not only to catch up, but to go beyond.

Here, I make a solemn statement to make Honda's technology to the world's technical level, and to compete with the world's advanced countries in the shortest period of time, and to surpass them in technology.

Competing with other companies in Japan, being the number one in Japan is not the real number one in Japan, but winning the number one in the world is the number one in Japan.

(Similar passion, vaguely felt in the old generation of Chinese auto people, should be cherished in their memory now.)

End With these words, Soichiro started his first trip to the United States.

Today, wherever the HONDA logo appears, there is a line of small print below it: The power of dreams.

On the company profile of HONDA's website, there is a photo of a "BadaBada" bicycle and a photo of the robot Asimo. "Dream" has always been the driving force...

Looking at Asimo, you can't help but think: a person has a dream of becoming a world-class automobile manufacturer when his career is just starting, and this "dream" can benefit a few Generations, today is still the soul of the enterprise. No matter you are in Honda's manufacturing plant, research institute, crash laboratory, racing circuit, team, or sales shop, you will feel that this great "dream" has become the DNA of Honda's business.

For a life of joy

A car best expresses the personality of its maker: French cars have more wit than unity; British cars have both solidity and style; American cars Too heavy and bold, not heavy on intimacy; although German cars are very simple, they are not fully functional. The N360 is a high-performance machine that uses the Fuxi Bagua azimuth map and the Wenwang Bagua azimuth map to explain the F1 technology in detail, which fully embodies the spirit of Honda.

This bizarre argument is a typical representative of Mr. Soichiro's "Honda-style" language style.

Mr. Soichiro began to learn to play golf after retirement, and soon became a fan;

He began to learn to ski at the age of 70. At 74, he slid straight down from the top of the Alps more than 3,000 meters, scaring the young people around him.

At the age of 80, he drives around in airplanes, and also drives around on motorcycles and sports cars. Some people say that if he had enough strength back then, maybe Honda's product would be an airplane, anyway, what he likes is a speed machine.

Honda Soichiro is a man of temperament. When he was young, because of his obsession with technology, he would beat up his subordinates who made mistakes, and even beat them to the bottom of their heads. However, he also regarded employees as children. Just as loving.

In 1963, at the 15th anniversary celebration of Honda Technical Research, his speech was like this: "Did you have a good time? Colleagues, thank you for your hard work! There are wines and vegetables, and you can drink if you are not satisfied with it. Let's have a good time, everyone must have a good time!"

In the second year of his retirement, Soichiro Honda started a "National Handshake Walking Program", driving by himself every day After 400 kilometers, 700 Honda companies all over the country shook hands and said goodbye to every employee. This plan was later extended to overseas. For four years, he only traveled with one secretary. In his "Book of Farewell to Honda Colleagues", he said: I have always been self-willed and caused a lot of trouble to my colleagues. After walking with Honda for 25 years, I have had a very fulfilling life and a meaningful life...

As for the work that he has been fighting for his whole life, Soichiro has his own wonderful theory:

Work is for Work for yourself, not for others. So, some people think that he is working for the company, which is wrong. Because he can work for himself and find fun at work, this is his own happiness and the happiness of the company. There is nothing more boring in the world than someone who works for work, not for their own happiness.

With all these, it is not difficult for us to understand another treasure that Mr. Soichiro left for Honda -- three joys: the joy of manufacturing, the joy of selling, and the joy of using. They have been extended by later generations and become the program throughout the research, production, sales, competition and other aspects of the Honda enterprise. The so-called:

Honda will realize the goals of "creating joy", "expanding joy" and "transmitting joy" through its own comprehensive strength through its overall corporate activities, sharing joy with all human beings, and striving to make Honda "the "expected by society". companies that exist".

——Quoted from President Wife Fukui's speech

At the 39th Tokyo Motor Show, Honda's exhibition theme was: FEEL FINE!

The version of "Chrysanthemum and Knife" in the automotive industry

Before Mr. Soichiro died, he specifically asked his wife not to hold any funeral and memorial service. He said: "Holding a funeral, each Celebrities in this area will come to say goodbye to me, and they will always come by car, too many cars will disturb the tranquility of nearby people. We are the people who build cars, how can we use cars to disturb people?"

Similar acts There are many more. When we visited the office building of Honda’s Tokyo Aoyama Head Office, the owner told us that this land was originally square, and an inch of land in Japan was expensive. It is said that the building should be built squarely, but now it is according to Mr. Soichiro’s. The idea is to build an oval shape, which is to allow people nearby to pass easily. Moreover, the balcony of the whole building is outside. This is to consider the frequent earthquakes in Japan, which can reduce broken glass and hurt people.

When I learned about and researched Soichiro Honda and the company he created, I found that Mr. Soichiro is almost a vivid portrayal of the description of the Japanese nation in the "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" in the automotive industry: the chrysanthemum symbolizes the elegance and gentleness of Japan, and the sword Symbolizing the wildness and fierceness of Japan, the two are always paradoxically united in the Japanese, forming a picture that seems like a joke, but they are all true.

Walking through the streets in the downtown area of Tokyo at night, you can always see groups of young and middle-aged men, or staring at the sky smoking a cigarette, or staring at the phone without saying a word, sending and receiving text messages. Judging from their well-dressed appearance, they should be office workers who haven't returned home after work, and they don't look like they are homeless. It's very late, these people seem to have lost their souls, what's going on? Ask our all-knowing tour guide, and he was at a loss. I think, even in Japan, Soichiro is a person from a previous era.

Actually, China also has a monograph "On Japan" that studies Japanese culture in depth. This is the work of Dai Jitao in 1928. Its opening chapter talks about the topic "China", which Japanese people don't even know how to put on the dissection table. I have dissected it thousands of times, and put it in a test tube and tested it thousands of times. However, we Chinese just blindly reject and oppose it. If we refuse to do research, we are almost unwilling to read Japanese words, listen to Japanese words, and see Japanese words unwillingly. Know the Boxer."

It is said that Chinese people have known "HONDA" for decades, but how many really know it? In a sense, although Soichiro Honda's hometown is in Japan, he belongs to the world.